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Top Craft Breweries In Longmont

August 20, 2015 6:00 AM

The Tasty Weasel (credit: Oscar Blues)
A craft beer is a small-scale production beer made with traditional ingredients in a non-commercial, independently owned brewery. Colorado has a reputation for making some of the craftiest beers in the nation. The state is even called the “Napa Valley of beer” and was recently ranked the second booziest state in the nation. Colorado natives love their craft beer, but it’s also becoming a huge tourist attraction. Just last year, the state made about $1.6 billion in just craft revenue. These are some of the top craft breweries in or near Longmont.

Lovers of craft beers can get a Left Hand ale or stout in bars and restaurants across the country but these award-winning brews call Longmont home. They say if you haven’t tried the Milk Stout you’ve been missing out, and a visit to the tasting room is a must-do. Try a beer sampler to get started. Black Jack Porter and 400 Pound Monkey are fan favorites and the Sawtooth Ale is a delicious Left Hand classic. Interested in the beer making process? How Left Hand got its name? Left Hand also has informative but fun brewery tours which are free and open to the public.

Oskar Blues’ craft beer brews started in 1998 when the first batch of beer was made in the Lyons restaurant’s basement. That same year, their “Reverend Sandi’s Sinful Stout” won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival. Dale’s Pale Ale, now brewed at the company’s breweries in Longmont and Brevard, North Carolina, is one of the best-selling ales in Colorado and is widely distributed. Fan favorites include Old Chub and the G’Knight Imperial Red IPA. A beer flight is a good way to start at either the Oskar Blues tasting room the Tasty Weasel or at one of their several restaurants in Longmont, including Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids and Solids. Free brewery tours are also offered on a daily basis.

What makes this firehouse themed brewery so special is you won’t find their beer in liquor stores anywhere, and you’ll be lucky to find Pumphouse on tap outside of 540 Main. This brewery keeps beer enthusiasts on their toes with one-time only and seasonal brews, blueberry beer being one of them. A year-round favorite is the Flashpoint IPA. It’s a crisp and citrusy medium-bodied ale.

The recently opened 300 Suns Brewing was a dream come true for its founders and their brews are already winning awards. “Stellar” is the word patrons use to describe this new brewery named after the 300 days of sunshine Colorado gets annually. Try the Cap’n Long brew. It’s a Denver International Beer Competition gold medal winner. Or sample away with the nine beer sampler.

Lonza Dennis is the founder and creative director of First Class Fashionista, a lifestyle, beauty and fashion blog based in Denver, Colo. Lonza is a freelance writer with an expert understanding of the role social media plays in networking, business development and marketing.